Share your Atom knowledge

I haven't had a wood boat since a 68? Thompson lapstrake I/O my family had when I was young. I am not ready to buy one with no space to store it and a Mustang iron in the fire, but I have been taken by one in the "for sale" section located near me in Morris IL. It has a 312. I am curious if this is representative of what a really nice one brings. The Mustang is the last project boat I will ever undertake (probably car too after the epic restoration project this summer) but it seems possible to buy a complete and properly restored /maintained Atom judging by what I see. Is this truly the case? I know there are many businesses that will maintain them. I saw an atom at the ACBS booth I worked at McCormick Place last year. It was restored and maintained by a place in the Fox River Valley in Illinois. It was really beautiful. Is the Atom a good choice for classic wood? Any problems or handling issues with the model? I have been thinking I would enjoy one more than an old car I have. The size and beauty of an Atom makes it desirable to me. I loved the "Fin Boat" thread.

That is Bigwavedave's boat and it sold last week.

The one at MCCormick place last year was an Aqua Skier that belongs to Todd Starr. Fox River Valley Boat Co did the work on it.

The Fin Boat is on the mend John and will return to the water very soon we hope. Stay away from 327 AMC's, but the fins are a real eye grabber for some.

My H/M manifolds should be ready at Crow Custom Cast Welding when I get back from Seattle on Friday. I took a chance and had them internally coated with a thermoplastic both in the water jacket and the exhaust passages. It was recommended and reportedly provides a degree of protection in addition to the welding and machining they did. Fingers crossed.

juniorwoody wrote: Does Crow make maniofolds?

No, they repair them. They do have a web site. Repair is certainly cheaper that having to go through the process of having them cast from scratch. I've seen a couple of their repairs where the antique manifolds were made from unobtainium!

Jack,
With water leaking into the exhaust side, there's always a chance that it will find it's way into a cylinder.

[QUOTE=john b] I haven't had a wood boat since a 68? Thompson lapstrake I/O my family had when I was young.

John, any pictures of the Thompson? My first boat I had for 11 years was a 65' sea mate. Good looking boats and the company had a lot of interesting history.

Big Wave Dave's boat is one of the nicer wood Correct Crafts I've seen. Someone got a great boat.

Jack, did you pick up the Gray engine at Tim's?

juniorwoody wrote: It seems the exhaust valves are closed and unlikely to allow water in the ports.

Jack,
They aren't all closed at the same time!

Jack, if the manifolds are cracked between the runners and water jackets, you'll end up with water in the cylinder (and then the oil). Even if it didn't enter while running (which it almost always does in my experience), it'll definitely leak in while shut down. There's bound to be a few exhaust valves open on various cylinders for any given engine position... And then you're hydrolocked.

John, The newer Atoms made from plywood have very little structure and few bulkheads. Replacing plywood on these I feel would be more problematic in that you could easily lose the shape of the hull. Sometime in the late 50's they changed their construction techniques.

TRBenj wrote: Jack, if the manifolds are cracked between the runners and water jackets, you'll end up with water in the cylinder (and then the oil). Even if it didn't enter while running (which it almost always does in my experience), it'll definitely leak in while shut down. There's bound to be a few exhaust valves open on various cylinders for any given engine position... And then you're hydrolocked.

Jack,
This is the point I was trying to make. Yes, I did read your explanation but your logic is off. There are several threads about the issue and most found the problem worse during shut down hence me saying all the valves aren't closed at one time. Fill us in with Crow's response. Tim, thanks for your backing up my same thoughts.

If you aren't familiar with the process, they will remove the outer wall of the water jacket where needed. This give them access to the inner wall for the crack repair welding. Then they weld the outer jacket back up.